Prior to qualifying for the Kobalt Tools 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones were handed penalties by NASCAR. The infractions occurred prior to the teams assembling on pit road for the Qualifying session on Friday. NASCAR has a long, arduous process for teams to go through to ensure a fair and level playing field each week.
Truex and Kahne were both handed a penalty for failing NASCAR’s template inspection twice. This will cost both the No. 5 Hendrick owned team, and the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team 15 minutes of practice today.
Truex Jr.’s teammate Erik Jones was also hit with a penalty during pre-qualifying inspection when his car failed NASCAR’s weights and measurements inspection three times. This will also cause the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing team 15 minutes of practice Saturday. However, since the No. 77 flunked thrice, the team will also lose the choice of their pit stall for Sunday. Given that Jones qualified the No. 77 in eighth, that is a pretty big loss.
No points penalties or suspensions were announced. Further penalties may come from NASCAR on Wednesday.
Frontstretch will have an updated and detailed post-event penalty rundown this Wednesday for readers if any further penalties are to be handed down to these teams, or any other teams for infractions.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.